Telematics units within mobile vehicles provide subscribers with connectivity to a telematics service provider (TSP). The TSP provides subscribers with an array of services ranging from emergency call handling and stolen vehicle recovery to diagnostics monitoring, global navigation system aided position identification, map services, and turn-by-turn navigation assistance. Telematics units are often provisioned and activated at a point of sale when a subscriber purchases a telematics-equipped vehicle. Upon activation, the telematics unit can be utilized to provide a subscriber with telematics services such as those described herein.
When the ignition of the mobile vehicle is off, the vehicle's telematics unit is placed into different states, such as a standby state, a discontinuous-reception (DRx) state having DRx cycles, and a powered-down state. Vehicle hardware, such as a telematics unit, may be placed into the standby state or DRx state to minimize power drain on the vehicle battery while maintaining at least partial availability for communication.
While the telematics unit is in a standby state, the network access device (NAD) of the telematics unit is active and able to receive wireless communications. While the telematics unit is in a DRx state, DRx cycles occur that include times where the NAD is off and unable to receive wireless communications, as well as times where the NAD is on and able to receive commands wirelessly. During standby and DRx periods, service requests—such as maintenance and diagnostic functions, system updates, vehicle position determination, unlocking of the doors, or vehicle alarm silencing—may be sent to the telematics unit when the NAD is on, and the telematics unit communicates with and/or causes appropriate vehicle hardware to be turned on to perform the requested service. DRx cycles consume power, and after a certain amount of time, the vehicle may end the DRx period and switch the telematics unit to an off state. After being switched to an off mode, the telematics unit and other vehicle hardware becomes unavailable for communication purposes.
Conventionally, vehicles are assigned a predetermined standby and DRx schedule that they follow each time the vehicle ignition is shut off, with the vehicles and corresponding telematics unit eventually being switched to an off state where communications with the telematics unit cannot be processed after duration for the DRx state is over. However, such predetermined standby and DRx schedules do not account for the variability of user behavior and the needs of particular users in particular situations and at particular times.
The above body of information is provided for the convenience of the reader. The foregoing describes a suitable environment for which the described system and method are provided, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art.